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By Armando Vazquez / Guest contributor
Members of the Oxnard Multicultural Mental Health Coaltion. Courtesy photo.
Sometimes the mental pain of anguished testimonials such as those provided by our OMM members to the CLC, is so unbelievable and grotesque; that even when we hear it and see it, our senses, our defenses, our education, our lofty professional status; perhaps our ignorance and fear cannot or will not accept or believe that beyond the traditional medical model there is another world of medical/mental wellness practices, modalities and therapies that work in our community. We at OMMH have come to call these cultural and historic “remedios” community defined wellness practices.
We are often dumbfounded, numb, institutionally handcuffed and reluctant to believe what we have witnessed; we assume that our brave and courageous woman and men must need, must have the traditional mental health service to address their mental illness. We ignore the facts, disrespect the gut wrenching testimony, and more importantly the prima facie evidence presented before us by our courageous sisters and brothers that stood bravely before us and exorcised their demons and poured out their pain before us at the County of Ventura CLC Mental Health Advisory Board meeting this week.
For this very reason place like the Café on A that house OMMH and other CBO location are so important to the people of Oxnard and to the County of Ventura, but much more important to all the Jacquie’s, Hector’s. Aaron’s, Julie’s, Melissa’s, Elie’s, Ruth’s, Yazmin’s, Josh’s, Rene’s, Jim’s, Armando’s and Debbie’s and the other countless thousands of our family members that over the past two decades have sought out love, refuge, a place to heal from the mental storms that torment so many of our people, and the only place they feel safe is the Cafe on A.
Working together, OMMH in partnership with LULAC, Clinicas, the County of Ventura along with our many other community partners we can better recruit, enroll, serve and help bring healing to our special population’s communities and help them with their mental health issues and most importantly their mental health wellness. At OMMH this is our objective to dramatically improve the collaborative partnership in the county of Ventura so all people who suffer from mental illness can receive the best and most comprehensive mental health services and programs available that they so deserve!
At OMMH that is housed and operated out of the Acuna Gallery at Café on A we practice a number of highly successful community defined wellness programs, classes and activities. Below is a partial and ever expanding list of wellness activities.
The Friends of the Earth Collective use primarily clay, and other organic material for meditative art and healing activities and therapies. Out of this artistic and healing collective two of the great ceramicist of the world are teaching, demonstrating and working with our art friends in Oxnard. Arte Cura! We feel it, we sit it and we embrace it! We have Las Salseras One Love exercise, dance Entre Mujeres group, dedicated to physical exercise, healthy life choices and nightly intimate “platicas entre mujeres”, trusted and wide ranging talks form mental illness and wellness to ideas of social activism to improve the community. The Dual Diagnostic Group is small intimate gather of community folk that suffer from multiple mental health issues; we are making tremendous breakthroughs in working toward mental wellness. Create Not Destroy is a multicultural youth arts group that works to address youth angst, rage and pain through love, understanding, empathy, music, art and dance. They have a concert planned for tonight, come join them at the Café one. The Peace Group meets weekly and they work to spread the concept of peace and love through self realization, it is within us all, they are wonderful ambassadors of the power of self realized potential.
Artist for Peace is a group of veterans and other community folk that are working to end militarism in our country and our community, they plan an activist peace fair for September of this year, and we will keep you posted. The KEYS Leadership Academy has been providing educational, social justice, arts, business and civic classes and community improvement projects for over two decades. Currently we are working on art as a social justice tool. The Oxnard Writers is gathering of local published, self- published and soon to be published poets, writers and playwrights who make OMMH their weekly home and they bounce mental pain and wellness as well as literary ideas and support. We plan to have a local Oxnard Book Fair at the end of the year. The Oxnard College Coalition is composed of artist, activist student, scholars and associated student government officers who have made OMMH their headquarters and use the intimacy of the Café on A to plan progressive activities for youth and students through the greater Oxnard plains. The Hip-Hop Coalition of Oxnardis a group of youth that plan, schedule and hold music concerts, social justice forums, and community improvement projects through the year, one of the principal goals to provide more water safety class and universal beach access to all kids and their families in Oxnard. The LGBTQO Group is working to redefine the parameters and discussion beyond the traditional “box” that has been articulated, at OMMH these mostly young folk have a safe haven to explore, discuss and create whatever identity they defines themselves.
— Armando Vazquez, M.Ed., is the executive director of The KEYS Leadership Academy@ Café on A in Oxnard and chair of the Oxnard Multicultural Mental Health Coaltion.